[3.16 updated] BRO, DO YOU EVEN SUMMON? Life/ES Dark Pact Skeleton Caster League Starter

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brant09081992 wrote:

Damn, how could I never try it before? Just implemented Cold Snap to my CWDT and it really rocks!

Well, that's fine cuz your focus was mainly on bossing. And I love Zoom zoom MFing and Delving, so I went super paranoid on the fact we don't utilize Frenzy Charges.

Tried Blood Rage, didn't like it - too much degen with self-casting and ES gone is kinda meh. Right now using Intuitive Leap with Overcharged. Plans for distant future is to go down from there to Harrier Socket and use Unnatural Instinct!

More short-term is 6L Carcass Jack for mapping. That will give us more reach and 50% damage. Haven't compared output damage to 25% minion life, but it's somewhere close for small hp lost and nice AoE gained.

Then I'll try to get rings with +minimum Frenzy Charges. Which is a craftable suffix for 1ex.

Also, you might have noticed Minion Life is now craftable on the Helm, up to 20%. It doesn't stack with Eldritch Prefix, tho. So that's out of the question.



Last but not least I've killed Shaper 1st try with only one death when I didn't notice Volatile Anomaly when transitioning into spider part (where you stand in the bubble), jumped out and back with ~500ish hp left.

Albeit, it was a little overkill gear with 5.8k eHP and 12k minion HP, two Void Batteries. But it felt like I was rocking a 100ex budget build, Shaper had no chance @ all.

So thanks for the build, and hope you keep improving it! ;)

Saw your budget Shaper video, well done!

I went ahead and recorded my MF run on an Elder map. If you wanna use it.



Moving away from Armoury, gonna try other Elder maps to find a better suited layout, something long and not so wide.

Fungal Hollow or Crater, maybe UGS but it's also a wide-open map.

Edit: killed with ease.

And delve in general I'm pretty sure we can get to 1000 or so. There are some tricks with certain nodes/encounters, but I'm determined to make it happen!


Solved Frenzy Charge generation with:



Ideally, this one should be +1 power charge, 5% damage per Power Charge and probably Crit Multi. https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Precursor%27s_Emblem#Power_Charge_Modifiers

Thank you zoNiklv for another suggestions! Carcass Jack is indeed a really strong option for a fast clearing. DPS difference is rather unsignificant in a favor of perfectly rolled Bloodbond, however perfect Carcass loses about 300 life to it. But anyway, I'm trying to Essence craft a chestpiece for myself this time - I've already got something decent but I don't want to show it yet. ;)

I personally would give up with Frenzy Charges and instead of Precursor's Emblem just use a rare rings with high life and res values.

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Also, you might have noticed Minion Life is now craftable on the Helm, up to 20%. It doesn't stack with Eldritch Prefix, tho. So that's out of the question.

Yeah I got wet from seing this for the first time. ;) I'm currently trying to craft some good Bone Helmet from scratch but it gonna sink some currency. I'm trying to get +3 to minion gems and over 90 life after the Regal but after spending over the 700 alts I keep failing so far (damn I managed to get it multiple times within a couple hundreds of alts on Standard). I've also tried Fossil crafting but buing all that fossils and resonators makes me quit.

Well, Carcass is amazing with Inc. AoE for both maps and delves. Finally did mine, and it rocks.

You either self-cast and be able to touch all the screen, or use it with skelies and cover entire Azurite III area while off-screen chilling in safety. Did a 360 node with 66% more monster life (life as of 500 node) and was able to self-cast clear from node to node no issues.

The reason I see Frenzy as super-important, you need to cast as quick as possible to make sure mobs in Delve die before getting chance to attack. At some depth we wont survive incoming damage. Going LL Haste will buff our action time even more.

You should give fossil crafting one more go, it's much easier than alt-crafting and you do it as you go through nodes and farm fossils from Fractured Walls youself.

Two main recepies:



or use 3 socket and add .

Crafted this guy with 2 socket reso:



Now going for Hubris with 3 sockets. If you need guidance on how to farm fossils, lmk!

Going to push to 400 depth today and hopefully get to 600 by the end of weekend.

Edit: typo)

Here is Delve 400 clear:



No mods on this one, but I've had some nasty stuff along the way and cleared no problems ;)

Clearing stuff around the node is an old habit that can save your ass from monkeys and others alike hiding in the dark.

Also, azurite balls hit like a truck, have to be cautious when they spawn they will teleport to you and immediately start attacking. Same goes for when they die, preferably shield yourself with skeletons when they do.

Lastly, encounter (or it's stage) will not end until all the balls die, so if you stand on the side or offscreen, keep track of your Vaal Souls. If they stop filling up, means you are killing excess mobs that do not give you Souls. Have to look for the real mobs to kill.

Edit: some tips)

Well, delve 600 done ;) Actually overdid the plan slightly. Will be pushing more in the coming days!



Did not record the video, since my worst enemy at this point is lags. On biomes with 50% pack size it get ridiculous, I'm not sure if it's extra gore from Carcass Jack or from Profane Bloom. But without large AoE it's impossible to get anywhere in Delve.

Mayor change in flasks, using



and rotating 5th between Rumi and Witchfire, depending on the mods (-%Res for tankier mobs).

Also finally figured out what I want on my boots, it's definetly CDR. For both Flame Dash and Summon Skeletons. Sometimes it's lacking just a bit, and Skelies die to degens so fast, that 1 second cooldown is just not enough.

Leaving current POB here if anyone wants to check it out.



Be sure to check the progress within the ladder (sort by Solo Depth):

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2256698

@brant09081992 maybe it's time to re-title into Fast Mapper(MF viable)/Deep Delver? :)

Going deeper, 700 done! So far no problems with dps even self-casting, although 70% more monster life is notable.

Probably the worst node I've done so far:



Two of the hardest nodes to do (by far!) are Lesser Multiple Projectiles and Action Speed Cannot be modified below base value. For this square had to use all 17 flares and walk far behind the cart. Always hated forests, there is a potential monkey hiding at each bush :)
High mobility are ability to shield yourself helps doing everything else!

I'm currently wrapping up my other character and keeping my eyes out for this one. I've played it in the past a few leagues ago. I got a few ex to spend for starters.

What should I focus on in this scenario? What are the most vital pieces?
nvest in a good +minion / life helmet or get some half decent wands crafted?

Also I doubt a 6-link bloodbond is worth it at the moment with the potential chests going out there?

Sorry for not responding for a few days but I haven't been there for a while. Congratulations on your depth 700 zoNiklv! I'm only at 120 so far but I didn't focus on delving that much (but now I'm starting to like it). I'm having your advises in mind.

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Did not record the video, since my worst enemy at this point is lags. On biomes with 50% pack size it get ridiculous, I'm not sure if it's extra gore from Carcass Jack or from Profane Bloom.

Probably Profane Bloom, it also causes laggs for me.

I also chew on inc crit chance mod from Cinderswallow. If I unlocked this mod I would craft it on a secondary Quicksilver for t16+ bosses or on a secondary Silver instead of anti-bleed for Uber Elder.

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What should I focus on in this scenario? What are the most vital pieces?
nvest in a good +minion / life helmet or get some half decent wands crafted?

I would primarily focus on rares with good life and resists and then adjust my gear regarding what I would have been lacking the most. +2 minion helmet should be good enough to start with. Decent wands can be bought under 20c. Ideally they should have a cast speed, crit multi and crit chance for spells (3 suffixes) and an open prefix for a minion life/damage (spell damage if you don't have Sppiritual Aid). Note if a wand already has inc spell damage prefix you can't craft minion life/damage mod on it.

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Also I doubt a 6-link bloodbond is worth it at the moment with the potential chests going out there?

You're right. I've crafted this chest by using only 1 Essence of Fear:

It gives a bit less life than the perfect Bloodbond but t1 fire res helps a lot when it comes to adjust other gear. If you're not unlucky at crafting it should be cheapper to craft a chest like this one.

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brant09081992 wrote:

Sorry for not responding for a few days but I haven't been there for a while. Congratulations on your depth 700 zoNiklv! I'm only at 120 so far but I didn't focus on delving that much (but now I'm starting to like it). I'm having your advises in mind.

Just passed 800 depth. It started to get grindy, cuz most of the areas are 30-40% pack size with nasty mods and dead ends are more common.
So you either risk doing a very hard path/node or go around and that might not lead you anywhere :)

But it's damn fun! Altough, I've totally abandoned Harbinger nodes with any damage mods, too many beefy mobs that rip skeletons in no time. I have this idea, what if we run Vaal Summon Skeletons and maybe get Zerphi's on top. But didn't try it out yet.
Also swapped From Dust corruption to:



Summoner builds been known to do bad in Delve, i'm not sure if any build surpassed 1000 last League (950 of this one), maybe Agony Crawlers did.
We are not really summoners, but still suffer from skelies dying fast.

I'ma keep delving, cuz you know... for the build so good, this:

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds?skill=Dark-Pact

Is totally unacceptable :D